India should get 10 Pakistani heads, demands Sushma Swaraj

If Pakistan does not return the severed head of the martyred soldier Hemraj, India should get at least 10 heads from the other side, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has demanded.

“The question is: Will we sit without any reaction and engage in a dialogue [with Pakistan]? This should not happen. At least the government should react in some way. That is why we have said the government should take some tough measures,” she said, talking to reporters in Khairair (UTTAR TRADESH ) after visiting Hemraj’s family along with party leaders Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh.

Hemraj, along with Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, was killed on January 8 by the Pakistan Army regulars after infiltrating into the Indian territory in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Today, the nation is demanding: Don’t prove a weak government. They [the Pakistan Army] came on the LoC, killed our soldier and took away his head with them and there should be no reaction ... this should not be tolerated at any cost.” Ms. Swaraj said: “The government should apologise for the apathy. They should apologize to the family of the soldier and the country. But they should at the same time take revenge for the incident.”

She said Hemraj’s wife Dharamvati was “disturbed about two things — one is about the honor of her husband. She said I couldn't even see his face. As you know that his body arrived without the head, she is shocked at this, but nobody from the government came for his final rites. The other is about the honour and dignity. Both her feelings are legitimate.” Ms. Swaraj said: “When the entire country is feeling outraged, the government didn’t even inform [us] when and how the last rites will be performed.” There should have been sincere efforts by the government to be present at Hemraj’s last rites.

Angrily reacting over beheading of a soldier by Pakistani troops on the LoC, senior BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said that the neighboring country does not have words like peace and harmony in its dictionary hence they need to be shown their worth. "There is no need to hold any type of talks with Pakistan for betterment of relations...they need to be shown their worth," Hussain, who is BJP MP from Bhagalpur, told PTI. "There is a need to give reply to Pakistan in their own language," he added.

Asked to comment on views expressed by other political parties that war is the only option left with Pakistan, he said it should be decided by government and Army. "This option is to be decided by Army and government.

But if necessary to save the honour of the country, if it is decided by Army or by government, we will support it," Joshi said. He observed that government's policy regarding national security is very weak and it is not treating Pakistan the way it should be treated.